An Eye for an Eye makes the world blind
by Aaunty Pasta
Summary: Revenge is Best served cold. The report of my death was an exaggeration. Frank's dating a girl with the FBI, but when she comes back from assignment, the whole family must help her cope with PTSD. Revenge is on everyone's mind. Did I mention that Eddie finds a wedding dress and kicks ass? Rated M for Violence and innuendo.
1. Chapter 1

An Eye for an Eye makes the world blind

Frank started seeing an FBI agent just before Linda's death last year. Now, she's being sent to California to help an agent intent on arresting the man who may be responsible for the 'accident' that killed her. Danny's need for revenge affects the capture of Louis Delgado and the boss who has now targeted the whole Reagan clan, intent on revenge. When she returns, Frank and the entire Reagan family must help her deal with the emotional fallout.

Rated T for violence and innuendo

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"He's been waiting for you," Baker said as she stood and walked around her desk to open the Commissioner's office door. "He's here, sir," she announced and Danny Reagan walked into his father's office before she closed the door behind him.

"Sit down," Frank told his son. "I've got something to show you."

Danny sat down in one of the chairs in front of Frank's desk. "What is this about?"

Frank picked up a remote and aimed it at his TV. Video taken by the firefighters fighting the fires in California showed a badly burned body. There was a gun in the man's hand. When they turned him over, Danny gasped and jumped from his chair. "Is that who I think it is?"

"Louis Delgado," Frank confirmed.

"He died in the fire?"

Frank shook his head. "No."

"How then?"

Frank rewound the video to the point where they turned the body over and he paused it. "There," he pointed. Along his rib cage on his right, he saw the glint of a knife. "He was stabbed."

"Wait, what?"

"Stabbed," Frank repeated. "The autopsy is scheduled for this afternoon, but the preliminary reports show he died before the fire burned him."

"Where was this?"

"Southern California," Frank answered. "The fires burning around Malibu."

"Isn't that where Janel was headed?"

Danny was talking about Frank's girlfriend, Janel Mayer, an agent with the FBI. Frank nodded. "Something about the head of a Mexican Cartel being in the area."

Danny didn't think Janel was his father's type—about Danny's age and as gung-ho as they come—but Frank had taken to her the first time she stormed in his office about NYPD involvement in a case. Then again, Danny liked her, too. She was more than willing to work with him and, since her involvement with his father had become romantic, she was as protective of the Reagan family as any of them.

"Did she say anything else about the case?" Danny asked.

"That clearance is over my pay grade," Frank replied.

"Have you heard from her?"

"Just a quick text," Frank brought it up on his phone and showed it to his son.

 _Am ok_ , was all it said.

"Very quick," Danny said. "Are they sure it's Delgado?"

"Prints match," Frank replied. "The body had been positioned and partly buried as if they wanted to make sure he could be found and identified."

"They do a DNA match?"

"Won't be back for at least a week."

"I want to be sure that it's really that son-of-a-bitch," Danny said. "He had me fooled before."

"I know," Frank said. "They said they'd get the results to us as soon as they are finished."

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Three weeks before

Agent Janel Mayer slowly walked through the artworks of the Smithsonian Art museum, examining each work carefully as she went. As she looked at a particularly colorful piece by Picasso, a man spoke behind her.

"I'm not sure I know what to think of Picasso's work," he said. "What about you?"

Janel turned to glance at him. He was tall and broad shouldered and sported a full brown beard. The hat he wore was pulled down over his eyes, but she could still see that they were familiar eyes. Eyes that she looked into every time she kissed his father. "Hey, Joe," she said softly, but casually. She took a breath. "I don't know, I always liked how Picasso made up his own rules when it came to art."

"Is that a message about me?" he asked with a smile.

Janel smiled back. "Why would you think that?"

Joe chose not to answer. "How's my family doing?"

"Mourning," Janel replied. "Again."

"I know," Joe replied. "I feel awful that I couldn't make it in time…"

"If you had called the office with the information," she began. "I could have done something."

"There's a spy from Mano Sangrieto somewhere in the chain," Joe told her softly. "I'm not even sure why I trust you."

She looked at the floor as she spoke, so no one could film her words and recording devices would have trouble catching it. As it was, Joe himself almost didn't hear what she said. "Because Frank does." She glanced up at him. "You can trust me, Joe."

"I do," he replied. "Because he does. And because you saved my life." He lowered his head and his voice much as Janel had a moment before. "Malibu. Two weeks."

Before she could ask any more questions, he was gone.

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Frank stood in a private hangar at JFK waiting for the FBI plane that was to return Janel home. When it finally landed, it taxied into the hangar and the engines shut down with a whine. As the ground crew put the wheel stops under the wheels, Agent Morgan stepped forward to open the door. Janel stepped to the head of the stairs and Frank's smile disappeared.

She'd been gone barely two weeks, but she was pale and thin. Her left hand was wrapped with a bandage and her hair had been cut in a horrible style. Worst of all, her once sparkling eyes were dead.

She came forward and hugged him with a fierceness that shocked him. Well past when she would have usually released him, she clung to him as if her life were in his arms. He pulled back to find that her eyes were filled with tears that streamed down her face.

"I take it that this was a rough case?"

Janel could only nod as Frank wiped away the tears then kissed her. "When will they be done with you?"

"I don't know," she finally spoke. "This was a really rough one compounded by the fact that we got trapped by the fires and had to take refuge in a residential swimming pool." She placed her bandaged hand on his chest and he grasped it.

"I take it that's when this happened?" he asked and he kissed the bandaged palm.

She nodded again. "I've got to debrief," she said.

Frank put his forehead against hers. "I know."

"Thank you for being here now though," she said and she pulled away.

"Always," Frank said and he kissed her again.

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Two weeks before

"I thought we were going to dinner?" Frank asked from the doorway of her bedroom.

Janel threw a smile over her shoulder. "Sorry Commissioner," she said. "I've been called away." In the week since her meeting with Joe in Washington, DC, she had received her orders and the arrangements had been made. "I've got to catch a flight to California tonight."

"California?"

"Yeah," she said as she checked her weapon and holstered it on her right then clipped a knife in its scabbard on her left. "Some agents out there have crossed paths with a perp on a case I'm working. I'm flying out shortly." She put on her suit jacket and turned to face him.

"Not commercial, I hope," Frank joked, knowing better than to ask any of the hundred questions he wanted to ask.

She smiled. "No, not commercial." She moved to stand close and slid her hands up under the lapels of his suit. "I'll miss you. I always do."

"I know," he said and kissed her nose. "Do you know how long you'll be gone?"

"I'm afraid not," she told him. She couldn't tell him that this was one of those cases she might not come back from at all, but she had a feeling he knew.

"Can I give you a ride?"

Janel took a breath and stepped back. "No," she said. "They're sending a car." The doorbell rang. "And that's probably it."

"Then I'll see you when you get back," Frank said before giving her what was supposed to be a quick kiss that turned into something more passionate.

Janel pulled away and grabbed her bag. "When I get back," she repeated.

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"Add one more place to my left," Frank told Nikki.

"We having company?" she asked as Erin stopped to look at him from the other side of the table.

Frank nodded. "Janel's joining us," he explained.

"Does that mean you…?" Erin left the question hanging.

"It's a friend coming to dinner," he said. "Nothing more."

As Nikki added the requested place, Erin moved to her father's side. "What's going on?"

"She just got back from a pretty harrowing mission," he said softly. "In California. She didn't get into specifics, but she got caught in the fire. Burned her arm pretty bad. She wanted me there when they landed and she looked haunted when she got off the plane." He shook his head. "I don't think anyone's ever held me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like her life depended on it," Frank replied.

Erin nodded. "I'll let the others know to keep the conversation light."

Frank squeezed his daughter's hand. "Thanks Erin."

"Is she going to be OK?" Nikki asked as Erin headed into the kitchen.

"I hope so," Frank replied as Jamie came in followed by Eddie and Janel.

"Look what we found," Jamie said.

"Yeah," Eddie said. "Can we keep her?"

Frank smiled and hugged Janel. "Sure," he replied. "Just don't let her on the furniture." Janel poked him as she pulled away. "How you feeling?"

"Hungry," she replied, evading the real question.

"Then it's a good thing dinner's ready," Erin said as she came in with a plate of food in each hand. She set them on the table. "Dad said you got caught in the fire. You OK?"

She brought up her left hand, freshly bandaged and moved it around. "They did a skin graft and it's healing nicely," she said.

Everyone greeted her as they sat at the table then quieted for the blessing. As they recited the prayer, Janel shut her eyes tight and a tear squeezed from one and fell on her plate. Before anyone could even cross themselves, she was up and gone.

Frank found her on the porch, pacing and desperately gasping for air. "You OK?"

"No," she said as she quickly shook her head. "Panic attack. I'm sorry. Maybe this was a bad idea."

"I don't think it was," Frank said. "You need to be around people."

"But _this_ family," she said. "I can't be with _your_ family."

Frank was confused. "Why not?"

"Because you were the target," she said. "Your whole family. Right down to Sean. Eddie included."

"Why?"

"They wanted revenge," she said. "I'm not supposed to be telling you this, but it hardly matters anymore. They saw Danny as going too far. That put a price on your heads."

"What did you do?"

"I saved the bastard's life," she told him. "We…" she swallowed. "We arrested him but were surrounded by fire. He was cuffed and we could have left him and no one would have questioned it. But he wanted to wipe out your family and would have stopped at nothing, even his own death, to do so. So I made a deal. He'd take the bounty off the Reagan family and I'd make sure his sorry ass made it to trial… _alive_."

"Wow," was all Frank could think to say.

"The details didn't make the news," she said. "But we got him out. Not that we weren't singed. I had a big section of hair that burned and my arm. El Chapo had some superficial burns to his head and hands and the agent backing me up suffered some facial burns. But we _all_ made it. Except…" she trailed off.

Frank gripped her hand. "The story was in this morning's news," he told her. "I didn't know you were the one who brought him in."

"I'm OK now," she said, evading. "Let's go eat dinner."

She left him alone on the porch wondering what she wasn't telling him.


	2. Chapter 2

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Two weeks before

"Hey mommy dearest," Joe said and thumped her forehead.

"Joe, what the hell?" Janel said as she rubbed the spot he'd thumped.

He'd taken to calling her mommy dearest when he heard she was seeing Frank even though he knew it drove her nuts. Or maybe because it did. "They've got the GPS coordinates for us," he told her.

"They sure they're correct?"

He nodded. "We've got to hurry though. A fire's up in that area and headed that way."

"Great," Janel replied. "On one hand, they'll be cut off and unable to escape. On the other hand, so will we if we don't hurry."

"The chopper's waiting and we've got clearance," Joe said with a gesture to the door.

"How many up there?" Janel asked as she checked to make sure her gun and knife were secure on her belt.

"Just el Chapo," Joe replied. "As far as we know."

"Why just him do you think?" she asked as she climbed into the co-pilot seat next to Joe in the pilot's chair.

"He didn't want us to find out he was in town," Joe smiled as he pulled on the flight helmet.

Janel pulled another helmet on. "Do they know why?"

"Intel says he paying out on a hit," Joe replied. "And ordering another. No one knows who or why."

"One more thing though, Joe," she said as the helicopter lifted off.

"What's that?" his voice came through the speakers in her helmet.

"Don't call me mommy dearest," she said. "Or I'll have to break your nose."

Joe laughed and they took off.

In the air over Malibu, they flew in the direction of Topanga Canyon. Large houses lined the roads, some with swimming pools. At the end of the canyon, nearest the fire, Joe landed the helicopter on the circle drive of a mansion. They saw a man run out toward the chopper and Janel pulled out her gun and opened the door.

"Hello, el Chapo," she said as she held the gun on him. She took the helmet off after Joe had taken his off and gone around the chopper to hold his gun on him. "You're welcome to get in but I'm afraid you're under arrest."

He looked to the house as if searching for someone. A shot rang out and hit the side of the chopper, making Joe fall back in surprise and Janel duck down.

"It seems," the man said. "That I now have the upper hand."

"Not really," Janel said and kicked him in the face.

He fell to the ground and a second shot, close to Janel's head, hit the seat behind her. "I suggest you start up the helicopter," he said as he lay on the ground. Instead, Janel got out of the helicopter as Joe watched from behind a car in the driveway.

"You start up the helicopter," she replied. "I don't know how to fly it."

"Then perhaps your companion should get over here," he said as he got off the ground and brushed himself off.

"What companion?" she said.

He turned and looked to find that Joe was nowhere to be seen. Above them, she could see the fire spark another fire and the house started going up like kindling. Desperate, el Chapo, also known as Gabriel Geraldo, gave Janel a shove, knocking her gun from her grasp. He took off running through the trees opposite from where the fire was burning the house down.

"Joe!" she hollered toward the house. "Leave him! We've got to get out of here!"

Not seeing him or where he had gone, she retrieved her gun and headed after Geraldo. Through a stand of trees, she ran, following his trail through the dense woods. She caught up to the older man at the bottom of a ravine where he'd tripped and fallen. She pulled him off the ground and held the gun to his chin. "Go ahead," she dared him. "Make a move so I can kill you."

He began to laugh. "If I die," he said. "They die."

"They who?"

"The Reagan family," he said with amusement. "I've put a price on the Reagan family that pays even if I'm dead. Dead, I can't remove it."

Panic crossed Janel's face. "Why?"

"Because Detective Reagan went too far," he replied. "That was _MY_ money he stole."

Janel tightened her grip on her gun and pushed it into his neck. "It was seized because it was used in a felony," she said. "Legally."

He gave a laugh. "Yet he never stopped to consider the ramifications," he replied. "And then he tried to get revenge for the fire at his home." He tsk'd. "By trying to make it look like my assassin was double crossing my people." He raised his head in defiance. "Revenge is a dish best served cold," he finished. "Besides. I don't think you have the balls to shoot me."

Janel hit him across the face with her gun, knocking him to the ground. "How about this one," she said. "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." She pulled him to his feet again with her free hand and pressed the gun back into his chin. "If anything happens to the Reagan family," she told him. "I'll make it my mission to make sure you get the needle. And I'll make sure the drug is the one that makes your death _slow and painful_."

"That will not be necessary," someone said from behind her as she felt a gun pressed to the back of her head. "Because you will be dead along with them."

Janel didn't say a word. As close as they were standing, with the two men in her personal space, neither saw her reach for the knife at her belt. She lessened her grip on her gun and the man behind her stepped to her left side, opening himself without knowing it. In one swift motion, Janel pulled the knife from its sheath and plunged it into the man's abdomen.

He gagged. "You bitch," he gasped, spitting blood. She slammed her hand into the hilt of the knife and he screamed. She tightened the grip on her gun and turned enough to see the man's face and recognize him as Joe came down the hill behind them, his own gun drawn. Louis Delgado, the man that had firebombed Danny's house stood behind her, gun still in hand and pointed at her head. "You'll still die before me," he said through a bloody grin.

"Not if I can help it," Janel said as she grasped the handle of the knife.

She could tell that he thought she was going to pull it out, and thus did not expect her to do what she did next. With a firm grip on the handle of the blade, she twisted and pushed as hard as she could, driving the knife deeper into his body. He screamed in pain and fell to the ground, gurgling blood as he took one last breath.

Joe reached them just in time to witness Delgado's death throes. Janel took a deep breath and looked up at him. "Never mess with mommy dearest," she said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I'll remember that," he said as she examined the blood on her left hand.

Janel turned back to Geraldo, who was so shocked that he didn't move. Joe grabbed him and cuffed him with his hands behind his back as Janel pulled the ring from Delgado's hand and put it in her pocket, getting his blood on it in the process. Up the hill, there was an explosion.

"Great," Joe said. "There goes our ride."

"Let us escape now," Geraldo said, panic in his visage.

"There's one thing we've got to do first," Janel said.

"What's that?" Joe asked.

"Make sure they find him and can identify him," she said with a nod to Delgado. "Question is, how? And quickly."

"I've got an idea," Joe said. "You need that?" he pointed to the knife.

"No," she said.

"Take him," he ordered and Janel took a place behind Geraldo. Joe drug the body further into the gully where there was a patch of soft dirt and then he cleared the dry vegetation large enough for it to lie in and rolled the corpse face down into it. Quickly, he cleared around him several feet then dug two holes for his hands, burying them in a pile of dirt, gun still clenched in his right hand.  
"You fools!" Geraldo scolded. "The fire will be here before you finish burying that idiot."

"Not burying him completely," Joe said. "Just enough that he can be identified when he's found." He pressed the corpse's face into the dirt with his foot and buried his head. "Let's go," Joe said with a gesture down the ravine.

Janel shoved Geraldo in the direction Joe had indicated. "Where will we go to escape the inferno?" Geraldo complained. "We are surrounded."

"We could just leave you," Joe said. "We'd get away a lot faster without you."

At that, Janel got an idea. She stopped and turned Geraldo to face her. "I'll make you a deal," she began. "In exchange for saving your sorry life."

"Not a chance," he replied.

"Ok," she said and turned him around and kicked the back of his knees so he'd fall to his belly. "See ya."

"Wait, wait," he begged. "You truly would leave me here to die? Even though…"

"I just killed a man," she said, gesturing with her bloody hand, the anger flashing in her eyes. "And you think I wouldn't leave you here to die?"

"OK, OK," he said, remembering her brutal act. "Pick me up and let's go. Tell me your deal."

She glanced back at Joe who had a bewildered look on his face. "I'm not sure I believe you would honor any deal I made with you."

"I will, I promise," he said, desperate to stop Janel as she turned as if to leave. "I promise on the life of my daughter Louisa." He looked up at her, pleading. "I will keep whatever bargain we make."

"The mark on the Reagan family," Janel said. Joe jerked in surprise. She bent down to talk to Geraldo. "First call you make when we are safe," she said. "Is to cancel it."

"Yes, yes," Geraldo said. "If we come through this alive, I will cancel the hits."

"Ok," she said as Joe stepped forward to help her help him to his feet. "What's the plan?"

"You have no plan?!"

"She may not," Joe said. "But _I_ do." He pointed the direction they were headed. "There is a house at the end of the ravine."

"Refuge in a house?" Geraldo said. "Bad plan."

"Not the house," Joe said. "The swimming pool."

Twenty minutes later, they had reached the home and went around to the back yard. "Get in the pool," Joe ordered. "I'll be back."

The back door was open and Joe went inside and came back out quickly and handed her his cell phone. "Put our phones in the Ziploc," he said as he handed her the bag. "Make sure it's closed well."

Janel did as she was told as she stood in the waist deep water in the shallow end next to Geraldo then shoved them into the pocket inside her suit jacket. When Joe came back, he handed her two towels and a couple of snorkels as they moved deeper. By this time, the fire was all around them and a spark caught in her hair. She reacted without thinking by throwing a hand up to smash it out, setting her jacket ablaze, burning her arm.

Joe threw a wet towel over her head and arm, putting out the fire, then threw one over Geraldo's head as well. He pushed one of the snorkels into the man's mouth and made sure the other end was covered with the wet towel. As he finished doing the same for Janel, a large piece of burning material struck his cheek, setting his beard ablaze. Before he could do anything, Janel grabbed him and pulled him forward into the water, splashing water on the flames. Together, they huddled down in the water, covered by wet towels and breathing through the snorkels and towels for what seemed like hours.

Janel panicked when she felt a hand grab her and pull her from the water. The towel fell from her head and she could see that the house was ablaze and there were several firefighters around the pool. More were seen in the background fighting the blaze. Except for the house, the majority of the fire had passed, burning everything in its path.

She spit the snorkel out as she heard Joe explaining the cuffs on Geraldo and they threw the three in the back of a pickup truck. After covering them with silver emergency blankets and the wet towels and some wet blankets, someone drove them at breakneck speed to safety. Under the blankets, Janel took out her cell and sent a short text to Frank. Sometime after that during the journey up the canyon, she fell asleep. When Janel woke, they were safe at a Los Angeles hospital being treated for burns.

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	3. Chapter 3

Janel's screams from the bed beside him woke Frank with a start and he wrapped his arms around her. "You're safe," he said as she struggled in his arms.

When her eyes finally flew open, panic filled their depths until she could recognize that she was indeed safe in Frank's arms. She began to sob, crying as Frank whispered to her until she could cry no more.

"You didn't tell me everything," Frank said as she clung to him.

"I can't," she muttered. "I can't."

"You have to tell someone," Frank told her. "If you want your life back."

"I have PTSD," she said.

"I know," Frank replied as Henry appeared in the doorway.

"Is she OK?"

Frank nodded, but Henry stayed where he was until Janel peeked through Frank's arms. "I'm OK now Henry," she said. "Go ahead and go back to bed."

Henry hesitated before doing as Janel requested. She rested her head against Frank's shoulder. "I'm sorry," she said. "I should have gone home."

"No," Frank replied. "If you'd gone home, you'd have had no one to comfort you when you started screaming."

"You need your sleep."

"So do you."

Janel fell silent and Frank was hopeful that she'd gone to sleep until she spoke and blew that hope out of the water.

"Frank?"

"Hm?"

"Next time let's stay at my place," she said.

Frank kissed her neck. "You sure?"

She nodded. "I'm sure."

They often spent nights sleeping in the same bed. At his home, they just slept in each other's embrace, but in the rare occurrence that they spent the night at her apartment, they never got much sleeping done.

"Dinner first?" he suggested.

"Steak?"

"Medium rare just like you like," Frank replied.

"Sounds good," she whispered. "Now go to sleep."

"Only if you promise to wake me in a more pleasant manner," Frank said.

"I don't think you want your father to catch me waking you too 'pleasantly,'" she said with a smile.

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Janel was released first and almost a week later. Geraldo was released the next day and she went to see him in jail.

"Alive and well I see," she said. "I kept my end. Did you keep yours?"

He nodded and affirmed vocally. "Yes," he said. "As promised, I called my lawyer and he made the arrangements." He leaned forward, almost pressing his singed nose against the glass. "But he will not implement them until I make one small stipulation to our deal."

"I keep my end and you don't want to keep yours," Janel said into the phone as she stood to leave. "I should have left you out there." She slammed down the phone and turned to go but he pounded on the glass and indicated that she pick up the phone once again.

When she had set down and put the receiver to her ear, he told her his stipulation. "I do not want to die," he said. "I will make the order with the stipulation that it is to be reinstated if I am sentenced to death."

"I don't know if I can do anything about your sentence," she said. "That would be up to the judge."

"Then you have to convince him, senorita," Geraldo said.

"I can try," she said. "But I can't guarantee anything."

"That is all I ask," Geraldo said and hung up the phone.

Slowly, she hung up the phone and left the visitation room. Outside, she took a deep breath before hailing a cab and returning to the hospital where Joe was still a patient in the burn unit. Since he was asleep, sedated due to the nature of the burns on his face, she just sat with him for awhile. When the time came for her to go catch her plane, she leaned forward over him to speak to him.

"Hey, Joe," she said. "It's mommy dearest. I just want you to know that he had the hit against your family canceled. But he wants me to convince the judge to give him life in prison instead of the death sentence."

"Why would you do that?" he asked drowsily.

"There's my partner," she said softly. "He'll reinstate the hit if I don't."

"Oh."

Janel shook her head. "You sound just like your father when you do that."

"Good."

"I've got to go now," she said. "I'm flying back to New York for debriefing."

"I know," he said.

"The doctor says you'll be fine," she told him.

"I know that too," he replied. "The scarring will just about guarantee no one will recognize me."

"And get rid of the beard?" Janel said. "Unthinkable!"

Joe smiled but just barely. "Take care of my family," he said. "And they'll take care of you."

"I will," she said.

"About Delgado…," Joe went on. "Why'd you take his ring?"

"For Danny," she replied. "So that he'll know his revenge has been exacted."

"You really think that will help?"

"Probably not," she replied. "But it will stop him from going after a dead man."

He turned to look at her. "Will you be OK?"

"I am right now," she said. "But once things sink in… I don't know." She stood. "I've got to go. See you in DC?"

"See you in DC," he replied. "Mommy dearest."

Janel smiled. "What did I tell you about calling me that?" She squeezed his hand and he squeezed back.

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Janel dropped the ring, encased in the plastic zip top evidence bag, on Danny's desk in front of him. Danny picked it up. "What's this?" he asked.

"Louis Delgado's ring," she told him. "I took it off his dead body myself."

"You killed him?" She only looked at him so he went on. "We saw video from when they found his body." She still didn't say anything so he kept going. "They found him partially buried. Most of the body was burned, but his hands and face were buried enough to identify him." He paused to gauge her reaction to his next words. "The knife in his gut looked an awful lot like the one you used to carry clipped to your belt."

Janel reacted with a shrug. "I can't talk about it," she said.

Danny stood to look her in the eye. "You can't because you can't?" he asked. "Or you can't because they won't let you?"

Janel tried to hold back the tears but one snuck out and ran down her cheek. "I can't…" She looked down.

Danny grabbed her face and made her look at him. "Maybe not today," he said. "But you will. And if nobody else, I'll be here to listen." He shook her slightly when her eyes wandered and they met his again. "Got that?"

"Yes," she said quietly. "I've got it."

He released her face. "Mommy dearest," he sniggered.

"Not you too," she said as she turned to go.

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	4. Chapter 4

Frank sat down in his chair in the study and opened the book he held to a page marked by a post card. It was not coincidence but design that the card could be found in the pages of the book 'A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court'. The card had no writing on the back except his home address. The postmark was from a tiny town in the central United States. On the front of the postcard was a picture of the author of the book, Mark Twain, also known as Samuel Clemens, and a caption of a famous quote from the man.

 _The report of my death was an exaggeration._

He'd received it days after the family had taken down the Blue Templar and Frank had agonized about it for some time before sliding it into the volume. Now, recent events made him dig it out.

Recent events being Janel calling Joe's name in the throes of a nightmare then waking to be relieved he was unhurt only to realize the person lying next to her, holding her, was Frank.

 _The report of my death was an exaggeration._

Joe was not dead. He fully had that sense now. He wondered how to ask her about it without upsetting her further. She was fragile these days. The slightest things seemed to upset her and the slightest noise seemed to frighten her and make her reach for her gun.

"Where are you Joe?" he whispered.

"In a hospital in LA," Janel answered from the doorway.

"What?"

"Joe is in a hospital in LA," she repeated. "The burn unit."

"How bad?"

"Bad enough," she replied as she came in and sat across from him. "But not life threatening. Where's Henry?"

"Grocery shopping for Sunday dinner," Frank replied. "He just left."

"How'd you know?"

He held up the card. Janel smiled with a nod. "Didn't completely understand until now," he said as he slid the card back into the book.

"My nightmares," she stated. "I'm sorry I never told you."

"You were protecting him," Frank said. "And the family." He paused. "We love you." Another pause. " _I_ love you."

Janel took a deep breath. "I love you, too." She stood and took the book from his hand. Laying it on the table, she sat in his lap and kissed him. When she pulled away, she rested her head against his and they sat that way until Henry came in with his hands full of fabric shopping bags.

Upon seeing Janel in his son's lap, he feigned annoyance. "Get a room," he said with mock grumpiness in his voice and moved through towards the kitchen.

Frank and Janel laughed.

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When Frank woke, he was slightly confused to be in Janel's bed, alone. Light poured into the room from the hallway, so he pulled on his robe and walked in his bare feet across the hall where he heard water running.

Janel was standing in her robe with the sleeves pushed up past her elbows. She had pulled the bandages from her left hand and was scrubbing at it furiously in the hot water.

"Come off, come off," she muttered.

Frank grasped her arm and pulled it out of the water, turning the stream off before grabbing both hands with his own. "What are you doing?" he asked and grabbed a towel to dry her hands.

"Trying to clean the blood off," she answered. "It won't come off." She buried her head in his shoulder. "It won't come off."

He let her cry there then she pulled away. "I'm OK," she said. "I was just dreaming."

"I know," Frank said. "Let's wrap your arm back up."

She held her hand out as he moved back. It was raw and red and frightening to look at. He grabbed the bandages they'd given her at the hospital and pulled her into the bedroom where he sat her down on the bed before pulling a chair over to doctor the arm.

"You don't want to talk to me about it," Frank said as he worked putting the medicine on her arm before wrapping it. "And you won't talk to the family. But you need to talk to somebody." He glanced at her face before going on. "I have the names of a couple of psychiatrists that may be able to help."

"I've talked to psychiatrists," she told him. "Including one that Danny's been seeing."

"They help?"

"To some extent," she replied. "The last one gave me a prescription that helps, but the side effects make me sick."

Frank looked her in the eye. "Maybe this is more a problem of the conscience," he suggested.

"What would bother my conscience?"

"You killed a man," he said.

"How do you know that?"

"I saw the same video Danny did of Delgado's body," he said. "And I saw the knife and knew it was yours."

"I've been cleared," she told him. "They ruled it self defense."

Frank taped the bandages. "Not too tight?" he asked. "Tight enough?"

"They're fine," she replied as she pushed the robe's sleeve down to cover them.

"They cleared you," Frank went on. "But _you_ didn't in there." He pointed to her temple then to her chest in the vicinity of her heart. "Or here."

"What do you think I should do?"

"You could talk to a priest," Frank suggested.

"You know I'm not Catholic," she said. "Nor particularly religious."

"I know," he said. "But they are fairly well versed in matters of the conscience." He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb. "And they won't break the sanctity of the confession."

She looked at him for a minute. "Anyone in particular you want to suggest?"

"Just go when you want," he said as he stood and put the chair back in the corner where he'd gotten it. "For now, let's try to get some sleep."

"I don't want to go to sleep just yet," she said as she stood up and opened her robe.

Frank smiled. "Suddenly, neither do I."

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Klienfeld's Bridal Shop was quiet when Eddie led the group of women consisting of Erin, Nikki, Janel and Eddie's mother, Lena inside. They were greeted by one of the bridal consultants who spoke to them to help Eddie figure out what kind of dress she wanted to wear for her big day.

Erin could tell that Janel was pretending she was alright, but she was more quiet than usual. Eddie came out in a third dress, which she absolutely loved and was just under her budget and began arguing with Lena, who wanted her to get the more expensive second dress that had hugged her curves and cost twice her budget.

"What do you think?" Eddie asked Janel point blank, trying to draw her out and get her mind off other things.

Janel looked up at Eddie as she stood on the pedestal. The dress was beautiful, falling smoothly down her body and hugging her hips before flowing out gracefully and falling to gently brush the pedestal beneath her feet. The illusion sweetheart neckline was embroidered with pearls and Swarovski crystals on the A-line dress and the skirt was tulle embellished with lustrous beading. Eddie turned so they could see the back which had a deep V and was finished with covered buttons over a zipper.

Janel smiled. "I think you're gorgeous," she said. "That's the one you should get."

Lena smiled sweetly at her. "The dress I picked was almost like this, yet you said no," she said.

"That's because I'm not looking at the dress," Janel said. "I'm looking at Edit." Lena looked back at her daughter as Janel went on. "Look at your daughter. She has a glow she didn't have in either of the other dresses."

"She has a point," Nikki said.

Janel stood and walked to where Eddie was still on the pedestal. "Can we see her with accessories?" she asked the consultant.

"Of course," she said and hurried off.

While she was gone, they were joined by Randy Finola. "Wow," he said. "Are you getting this one?"

"I'm thinking very seriously," Eddie said as she turned. Randy grabbed the hem and pulled it up and let it fall so it could lie naturally around her feet.

The consultant returned and Randy helped her put the accessories on Eddie so they would have an idea of how she could look on her wedding day. They added a hairpiece before Randy slid the comb to a veil in her hair and added dangly jeweled earrings to her ears. Together, they lifted the hem again so she could turn to face the mirror.

If she was beautiful before, she was glowing now. "This is the one," she said.

"Are you sure?" Lena asked.

Nikki took Lena's hand and pulled her to her feet as Erin got up and stood next to her brother's fiancé. Janel stood in front of Eddie. "Look at her," Janel said. "At your daughter, not the dress." She positioned Lena so she could look up in her daughter's eyes. Eddie was beaming and had tears threatening to overflow.

"This is it," Eddie said.

"Yes," Lena finally agreed. "This is it."

Before Lena could finish hugging her daughter, something fell behind them with a loud clatter and Janel screamed, reaching for her gun. Erin grabbed her hand before it cleared the holster and she and Nikki held her as she began to breathe faster and stiffen up. Eddie stepped from the pedestal to grasp her shoulder.

"Is she OK?" Randy asked as he produced a box of tissues.

All activity in the store had ceased at Janel's scream and now was starting up again. "She has PTSD," Eddie explained as Erin fully pulled her into a hug.

"You can take her back to your dressing room if you need to," Randy suggested.

"She'll be OK," Nikki said. "Just give us a minute."

Randy nodded and handed her the tissues before moving away.

"What happened to give her PTSD?" Lena asked her daughter.

"She's an FBI agent and was on assignment in California where she got caught in one of the fires," Eddie explained.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Lena said as Janel began to cry.

"There you go," Erin said and rubbed her back before she pulled away and took a tissue from the box Nikki offered. "You OK?"

Janel nodded. "Yeah, thanks." She wiped the tears from her eyes and blew her nose before turning to Eddie. "So this is the dress you're getting?"

Eddie shrugged. "I was going to say yes," she said. "But I don't want to make you…"

Janel grasped her hand to stop her. "Don't pass on a dress that you love because I went nuts for a second," she said. "You may never find another that makes you feel like this one."

"Are you sure?"

Janel nodded. "I'll even buy the veil."

Eddie smiled and squeezed her hand. "Then I'm saying yes to the dress."

Janel hugged her and Lena scolded half-heartedly, "Don't get tears on the dress."

They pulled apart to look at her and could see a jovial twinkle in her eye.

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	5. Chapter 5

"Thanks for bringing me," Janel told Jamie as they went up the stairs into St Angelus church.

"No problem," Jamie replied. "But are you sure you want to do confession. You're not even Catholic."

"Frank suggested that I'm suffering a problem of conscience," she said. "He thought talking to a priest may help. Even though I'm not religious."

"OK, then," Jamie said. "Do you want me to wait?"

Janel shook her head. "I don't know."

"Then, I'll wait," Jamie said. "Just in case." He opened the door to the confessional. After a moment of hesitation, Janel went in and sat down. Jamie nodded his support and closed the door.

Between the small booth and the other, a small door slid open. The two compartments were separated by a screen that kept her from seeing the padre, but they could hear each other. When Janel didn't speak, he asked, "Is there something you wanted to confess?"

"I don't know," she said nervously. "I'm not Catholic and I've never done this before."

"Is there something wrong?"

"Frank sent me," she said quickly.

"Frank Reagan?"

"Yes."

"Of course, Janel," he said. "Frank told me you might come to see me. I'm Father Quinn." He paused to see if she would say anything and when she didn't, he went on. "If it would make you more comfortable, we could speak in my office."

"I feel like this would be more appropriate," she said. "Because I do need to confess something. I just can't bring myself to say the words." She paused to wipe away a tear. "I said them in the middle of the fire, surrounded by smoke and angry as hell." She realized what she said and amended, "Heck. Sorry Father."

"It's OK," he said. "I hear confessions from cops who curse like that all the time." He paused and turned serious. "What words do you have trouble saying?"

She put her head in her hands. "I can't," she said. "I can't. I can't…"

"You can't say the words?" he asked. "Or you can't forgive yourself."

"I…," she trailed off. "Oh God," she said. "The walls…!"

Jamie was sitting outside when he saw Father Quinn throw open the door to his section of the confessional and pull open the door to hers. He rushed forward as the Father pulled her out and into the sanctuary. She was crying and gasping for breath and Jamie pulled her into an embrace. "It's OK… It's OK.," He repeated as the father placed a hand on her back to pray for her.

She pushed Jamie away and he held her at arm's length. "I killed him," she said. "I killed him."

"Delgado?" Jamie asked.

She nodded. "He had a gun on me so I took my knife from my belt and stabbed him in the side." She gasped, horrified at her own words. "Then, I twisted the knife." She gasped again and swallowed. "Then he fell to the ground and gurgled. Then he was dead."

Jamie tried not to let the horror he felt at her words show on his face. Behind her, Father Quinn moved his hand to her shoulder and squeezed slightly.

"I think she'll be OK now," he told Jamie with a sad smile.

Jamie pulled her back into a hug as she cried while he shook the father's hand. "Thanks Father Quinn," he said.

Quinn nodded and patted Janel's shoulder one more time before leaving.

Jamie reiterated the Father's words. "You're OK," he repeated in a whisper as she cried.

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Janel opened her eyes to see Jack sitting on the floor at the coffee table with books and papers scattered about. "Jack?"

"Hey, Janel," Jack said. "I didn't wake you did I?"

"No," she said. "What are you doing here?"

"Needed a quiet place to study," Jack replied.

"No, I mean in New York."

"I needed a quiet place to study," he repeated. "The dorms are noisy."

"You didn't come down to see me?"

"Why would I do that?" Jack said innocently. "But I brought you something." Janel sat up and pushed the blanket someone had covered her with aside. Jack pulled a package of king sized Reeses cups, crunchy, out of his backpack and handed them to her.

"Oh wow," she said. "I can never find the crunchy ones."

"I know," Jack said. "I found them at college and brought them just for you."

She opened the package and pulled one out. Discarding the cup wrapper, she took a bite and savored the confection as Sean joined them, sitting on the couch next to Janel.

"You said you didn't get anything," Sean said.

"I said I didn't get you anything," Jack said. "I didn't say anything about Janel."

"Oh come on," Sean started.

"Stop, stop, stop," Janel said. "Please don't fight."

"We're sorry," Sean said. "We don't want to send you into another panic attack."

"Yeah," Jack said. "We don't want to upset you."

"I'm not upset," she said. "Really. Amused, perhaps. But not upset." She handed them each a cup. "Here," she said. "You guys can help me finish them off."

"I bought them for you," Jack protested.

"Yeah and I'll enjoy watching you two enjoy them with me," she replied.

"In that case…," Sean pulled the wrapper off and took a bite.

Reluctantly, Jack unwrapped his and took a bite. "You know," he said. "I never know what to say to people when they're feeling bad."

"Sometimes," Janel said as she took a bite of her second cup. "Just being there helps."

"So we're helping?" Sean asked.

Janel nodded. "By being normal," she told them. "You remind me of what normal looks like."

"Glad we could help," Jack said as Sean shoved the last bite of the candy in his mouth.

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Janel woke, panicked and alone in her apartment for the first time since she returned from California. She leaned against the headboard as she gasped for air as the tears started to fall. Across the room, she spied the blank canvas she had set up. One of the psychiatrists had suggested art therapy so she went out and bought art supplies only to stare at the blank canvas for hours. Now however, she saw something on the canvas and crawled out of her bed and went over to it.

She grabbed one of the big brushes and began to open the jars and cans of paint until every last one was open. She dipped the brush into one and began to paint.

First, she painted the entire canvas blue like the sky had been that morning. She painted a little helicopter in the corner with some darker blue, then grabbed a smaller brush

She dipped the smaller brush in the brown and painted swirls at the bottom of the canvas where it mixed with the still-wet blue and created brown lines with blue streaks.

Next, she painted trees and filled the branches with tiny green leaves. She used the hand with the paintbrush to sweep a lock of hair out of her face, smearing paint on her cheek.

Now, in a dark grey that barely showed up against the brown, she painted a knife and two guns, or at least an approximation of them.

Over all, she painted flames of yellow and orange. All of the colors she'd painted already streaked with the new colors as she put them down.

As she worked, furiously splattering paint on the canvas, she knocked over a jar of paint and it pooled on the drop cloth she had put down where she stepped in it in her bare feet.

Next, she took a clean brush and painted a body in the brown at the bottom of the painting, splattering it everywhere. She practically threw paint at the canvas, smearing it around until it looked like the vision she'd had.

When she was finished, she sat down to rest, dropping the brush she held on the floor at the foot of her bed. She curled up into a ball on the floor and cried herself to sleep.

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	6. Chapter 6

Janel had given a key for her apartment to Joe, thinking he would never use it, but today he used it to unlock the door and let himself in. No one was likely to recognize him due to the protective mask he wore to keep dirt and germs away from the still healing burns on his face.

He closed the door and looked around. "Janel?" he called questioningly into the silence of the apartment. Sunlight streamed through the windows and onto the empty furniture.

Joe made his way through the apartment and found her bedroom. He opened the door to a mess of epic proportions.

In the corner, on an easel covered with paint splatter, was a painting that approximated their misadventure in California. Around it was a mess of spilled paint, paint splatter and stiff, unwashed brushes. In the midst of the chaos, Janel lay, curled in a ball and clutching a paintbrush in her right fist. Orange paint covered the bottom of her feet and red paint splattered her pajamas and face. A streak of brown mixed with blue ran across her cheek.

Joe shook her. "Janel!"

She opened her eyes and sat up. "Joe!"

He smiled through the mask. "Yeah," he said. "They finally released me."

She put the brush down and hugged him. "You OK?"

He nodded. "It's going to scar pretty good," he said. "But that is probably an advantage considering."

"Will your beard grow back?" she asked. "I like the beard."

Joe laughed. "The beard will grow back." He gestured to the mess around them. "Looks like a paint bomb went off," he commented.

She scooted until she was leaning against the foot of the bed. "Art therapy."

"Is it bad?"

She nodded. "Some days I feel like I'm going nuts."

"Me too," Joe replied. He nodded to the painting. "Looks like that day."

"I think that's what it's supposed to be," she said.

"You paint it and you don't know what it is?"

"I had a bad dream and woke up in a panic," she said. "That's what I saw when I looked at the canvas, so I painted it."

Joe helped her to her feet and went over to examine the piece. In the upper right corner was a small spot of blue, a darker blue shape reminiscent of a helicopter in it. In the bottom left corner was a pool of cool blue, swirled with the brown. In between were trees, leaves and fire. In the brown at the bottom of the painting she had painted two guns and a knife in a grey that stood out better now that it was dry. The blade had blood on it. The weapons surrounded the shape of a body, scraped into the gobs of brown swirled with blue. Red spatters at the figure's abdomen were likely representative of blood.

"Wow," he said. "Just, wow." He looked over at her. "I think you'd better go grab a shower while I clean this up."

"No, I'll clean it up," she said but before she could move to, her cell phone rang.

Joe picked it up, smiled and handed it to her. "I think you'll want to take this," he said as he handed her the phone.

"Henry," she answered on speaker so Joe could hear. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," he said. "I just wanted to see how my girlfriend fared on her first night alone."

Joe began to laugh silently. "I'm fine, Henry," she said. "But I could swear my boyfriend was Frank."

"That's right," he said with laughter in his voice. "I meant to say my _son's_ girlfriend." He paused as she laughed. "How'd you sleep?"

"I've slept better," she said. "I've also slept worse."

"No nightmares?"

"Not that I remember," Janel reported. "But I did wake with a start and made a mess in my bedroom."

"How did you do that?"

"One of the psychiatrists suggested art therapy so I bought a bunch of painting supplies and last night I finally had at it," she explained. "I don't think I got as much paint on the canvas as I got everywhere else." She examined a spot on her elbow that was splattered with brown and blue. "Including me."

"Does it look like anything or just a big mess of mud?"

"It actually looks like something," she said. "An abstract of that day."

"I hope you let me see it," Henry said.

"Maybe," she said. "Henry, I hate to cut you off or anything, but I've got to go clean this mess up."

Henry laughed. "I understand," he said. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I am, thanks Henry."

"Then I'll see you later," Henry said. "At Sunday dinner?"

Joe cocked his head and smiled. "I'll try to make it," Janel said

"Do or do not," Henry said. "There is no try."

"Thank you Master Yoda," Janel said. "See you Sunday." The call cut off and she put the phone back on her bedside table.

"Thanks for that," Joe said. "It's been awhile. I miss them."

"I know," she replied. "Now let's get this mess cleaned up, shall we?"

"Yes, mommy dearest," Joe said only to have her throw one of the dried paintbrushes at him. It hit him square in the nose.

"What did I tell you about that?" Janel said.

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Janel was folding up the drop cloth when the doorbell rang. "It's a good thing you had that drop cloth down or this would have been a lot worse," Joe commented as she threw it in a chair and headed out of the room.

Janel opened the door. "I just thought I'd…, Whoa!" Frank said. "What happened?"

Janel realized she was still covered in paint. "Art therapy," she said and leaned out the door. "Hey Jim."

"Good morning, Agent Mayer," Jim said. "Feeling better this morning?"

"Yes," she replied. "Thanks."

Frank stepped inside and she closed the door leaving the detective outside to watch for danger.

"Art therapy?" Frank queried.

"One of the psychiatrists suggested it," she said.

"Did it help?"

"Haven't figured that out yet," Janel replied. Before anything else could happen, Joe came into the room with a handful of paintbrushes coated with dried paint.

"I don't know that we can salvage any…" he began and stopped when he noticed Frank standing by the door. "…of these…"

The silence grew awkward quickly so Janel decided to lighten the mood. "Joe, this is Frank," she said. "We've been… dating. Frank, I believe you know Agent Joe Connors."

"I did not expect to see you here," Frank told him.

"Then you got my postcard?"

Frank nodded. "I did."

"How is everyone?"

"Been better," Frank said. "You?"

"Been better," Joe repeated with a gesture to his mask.

"Oh for crying out loud," Janel said. "It's been nine years…"

"And I don't know what to say to my own son," Frank said.

"That's OK," Joe replied. "I don't know what to say to my own father either."

"Janel said you were in a burn unit in LA," Frank said. "How are you?"

"Healing fine," he replied. "But they say the scarring will be pretty bad."

"Probably for the best," Frank replied.

"Are things too awkward for you two to hug it out?" Janel finally said. "Because this small talk is driving me crazy."

"Yes, mommy dearest," Joe commented. "Why don't you go grab a shower? Turn you back into a human instead of a smurf." He noticed Frank trying not to laugh and failing miserably. "What's so funny?"

"Danny calls her mommy dearest, too," he said.

" _Really_?" Joe said. "Did she threaten to break _his_ nose, too?"

"Better," Janel said. "I'm going to go get that shower now."

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	7. Chapter 7

Frank was waiting with a big bath towel to wrap her in when Janel got out of the shower. He wrapped her in it and held her in the embrace for a minute before she pulled away.

"Where's Joe?" she asked him.

"Things caught up with him and he fell asleep on the couch," Frank said.

"Did you have a nice chat?"

"Until he fell asleep, yes," Frank replied. "He's suffering a bit emotionally, too. Just not as bad as you."

"He didn't kill a man," she said softly as she looked at the floor.

Frank lifted her head to look at him. "Jamie told me about what happened at the church."

"I thought he might do that," she replied. Frank took her robe from the hook and helped her into it. She tied the belt snugly after letting the towel drop then took his hand. "Come with me. I want to show you what I painted."

Frank let her lead him to the corner of the bedroom where the painting still sat on the easel. He stared at it for several minutes. "Wow," he said finally. "There's just so much going on." He put his hands around her waist and kissed her neck.

"It's that day," she said then began pointing out the elements and explaining them. "There's the helicopter we flew to the house in. And the swimming pool we ended up in." She pointed to areas of blue. "The brown is the ravine I chased Geraldo into and the trees that bordered it." She painted to the grey. "These are the knife and guns involved. Mine and Delgado's. Then here…" she pointed out the body shaped figure pressed into the gobs of brown paint. "That's Delgado." She turned to look Frank in the eye. "I stabbed him. Then I twisted the knife and killed him."

Frank put his head against hers. "I know." He wiped at the tears he didn't see but knew were there. "I saw the autopsy report."

She pulled away. "When?"

"It came last night," Frank told her. "That's why I came by this morning. I had Baker cancel my morning." He watched as her mind worked. "Would you like to see the report?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want me to tell you what's in it?"

"I don't know that either," she replied.

"I'll leave the file," Frank said. "Then you can look at it or not. Or do whatever you want with it."

"That's probably a good idea," she replied. She gave him a quick peck on the lips. "I need to get dressed. Why don't you go check on Joe?"

"OK," Frank said and returned the kiss before releasing her and turning to leave. As he started through the door he stopped and turned back. "The worst thing you'll ever do isn't killing someone," he said. "It's learning to live with killing someone."

Janel looked at the painting but still answered him. "I'm slowly learning that," she said and he nodded before leaving her alone.

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Joe was awake, but still jumped when Frank sat in the nearby chair. Frank held his hand out and said a quick, "Sorry."

Joe took a breath to calm his racing heart and lay back on the couch. "Is she OK?"

"I think she will be," Frank replied. "Will you?"

"I find myself confronted with what happened to me nine years ago," Joe replied. He looked back at Frank. "Did she tell you that she saved my life when I was shot?" Frank shook his head and Joe lay back and went on. "Something was going to happen. I could almost sense it. The FBI agents who were supposed to be handling my case had been recalled to DC about the Mano Sangrieta case which intersected because of the drugs. I was on my own… or I thought I was." He looked back again. "I remember being face down in the dirt. I hadn't seen who shot me, but I suddenly felt hands on the wound, trying to staunch the blood flow."

"Why weren't you wearing your vest?" Frank asked.

"I was," Joe replied. "He got me just above it. In the shoulder." He sighed. "Two inches to the left and he would have severed my spine."

"Why fake your death?"

"The FBI thought it was the Mexican cartel that tried to kill me," he said. "Thinking that I was the one that had been stealing their money. Gabriel Geraldo was not too keen on people taking his money."

Frank leaned forward to look at his son. "The FBI agents working on your case had no idea what was going on."

"Don't I know it," Joe replied. "Janel wasn't in on it until after I was shot, but they didn't give her the chance to investigate. I joined up doing undercover with Janel as my partner. I trusted her because she saved my life and it didn't take her long to trust me."

"Did you ever…?" Frank began.

"You're kidding, right?" Joe asked as he looked at Frank. "I'm too young for her."

"Only a couple of years," Frank replied.

Joe chuckled as he lay his head back down. "Excepted she's attracted to distinguished older men," he said. "Like you."

"OK," Frank said with a smile. "I'll buy that."

"And you know that case the NYPD was getting to close to?"

"Yeah?"

"It wasn't the case you were too close to," Joe told him. "You were getting too close to me." He quickly glanced at Frank. "So close, I could smell Danny's breath."

"If he'd seen him," Janel said from the doorway, gaining the attention of both men. "Not only would it have blown Joe's cover, but it would have pretty much blown the entire case."

Joe sat up and Janel sat down next to him. "But now we have Geraldo in jail. And his assassin is dead," Joe said.

"Does this mean you can come home?" Frank asked.

"Not yet," Janel put in. "Depends on who the next head of the Mexican cartel is or if they even keep their status as the most powerful Mexican cartel."

"I am not looking forward to that conversation," Joe put in.

There was a tap at the door and Jim stuck his head in. "You asked me to let you know when it's time to leave," he said.

"Give me ten," Frank replied.

"Yes sir." The door closed.

"Jim's still your detail?" Joe asked.

Frank smiled. "He's saved my life more than once," he replied and stood. "Now I've got to get going." Joe stepped forward and gave his father a hug. When they parted, Frank looked at Janel. You'll be there for Sunday dinner, right?"

She rolled her eyes but nodded. "I'll be there for Sunday dinner," she replied.

"When do you go back to where it is you're based?" Frank asked.

"I'm based in DC," Joe replied. "In a few days. There's something I have to do first."

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"Are you sure you're doing better?" Eddie asked as they walked along the sidewalk to one of Eddie's favorite restaurants.

Janel glanced at her. "I have good days and bad days," she said. "The day we picked out your wedding dress… that was a bad day. Today… is a good day."

"Good," Eddie said. "I'm starving." She pushed the door open and went in. "By the way," she went on. "Who is this you want me to meet?"

"My brother," she said. "I think you'll like him. He reminds me a little of Jamie."

"OK," Eddie said.

They walked through to a table in the back where he waited. He stood and turned to greet them. "Eddie," Janel began. "This is my half brother, Joseph Connors."

"Is it Joseph or Joe?" Eddie asked as she shook his hand.

"Joseph," Joe replied as he held the chair for her. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Eddie said. "I feel like I should know you from somewhere."

"I'm pretty sure I'd remember if we met," Joe replied.

"Something about your eyes," she said.

Joe shrugged and changed the subject. "So you're the girl that finally trapped Frank's youngest son," Joe said.

"I guess that would be me," Eddie replied as Janel's phone rang.

"I just have to take this," she said and stepped away.

So much that Joe wanted to ask this woman, but he found himself unable to even look her in the face.

"So what brings you to New York?" Eddie asked.

"Burn treatment," Joe replied as he gestured to the bandages on his face. "I'm staying with my sister for a few days."

"Where do you live?"

"DC, most of the time," Joe told her. "But I was out in California visiting friends when the fires started and hooked up with a team of men fighting them."

"The same fires Janel got caught in?"

"Janie was on the other side of the fires from where I was," he said. "I got caught in a flashback."

"How bad was it?"

"Bad," he replied. "I would have been there when they found Janie, but I had been burned two days before."

Janel came back about then and Joe changed the subject as they looked at the menu. "So what were we talking about?"

"Tell me about your fiancé," Joe said to Eddie.

"Oh, Jamie," Eddie said as she smiled. "Jamie's awesome."

Janel started giggling into her hand as Joe gave her a weird look. "Inside joke," Janel said. "Go ahead, Eddie."

"We were partners for five years," Eddie said.

"And nothing happened?" Joe asked.

"Not until Jamie was almost killed in April," Eddie sad as the waitress arrived. They gave her their orders and she walked away.

It gave Joe a chance to compose himself and Janel winced. "What happened?" Joe asked.

"Uh, One of the guys from the Prospect Park 6 wanted revenge for nine years in jail and the loss of his mom so he hired a hitman to kill family members," Eddie explained. "Jamie ended up on the list."

"She had his back," Janel put in. "I heard it was one hell of a shot."

"He started shooting at Jamie and I shot at him," Eddie explained. "Then when he tried to drive away, I got him in the head."

"I hope someone arrested the guy who hired him," Joe said.

"Danny flew to Miami," Janel said. "The Miami police arrested him and he was extradited before he could even protest."

"We realized that we couldn't deny our feelings any longer," Eddie went on. "A few weeks after the attempt, he proposed over a game of mini golf."

"Hm interesting," Joe said. "So you're not partners anymore?"

"Well," Eddie began. "We wanted to be, but Jamie passed the Sergeant's exam and took a promotion." The waitress brought their food so Eddie paused to take a bite. "Now instead of my partner, he's my boss."

"And the commissioner's OK with this?" Joe asked incredulously.

"Frank is not completely OK with it…," Janel said.

"He's not?" Eddie asked. "I know he didn't want us to be partners anymore but…"

Janel grasped Eddie's wrist to stop her. "But he's getting used to the idea. I think it has as much to do with being afraid to lose another son." Janel looked at Joe.

"I understand that," Eddie said then went back to the earlier discussion. "Are you sure we've never met?"

"Not that I remember," Joe replied and he shoved some fries in his mouth.

"Maybe you just look like someone she used to know," Janel suggested. This time, she changed the subject. "When did you say you have to be back to DC?"

"Sometime next week," Joe replied.

"Would you like to come to our wedding?" Eddie suddenly said. "I have a dress and a veil." She smiled at Janel. "And my groom of course."

"I am honored at the invitation…," Joe said.

"Good," Eddie said. "Where can I send the invitation?"

Janel chewed her bite and swallowed. "Joe has a demanding job," she said. "He is between houses right now anyway."

"Maybe just give it to Janel and she'll get it to me," Joe said.

"I thought you said Joseph," Eddie said.

"Sometimes I slip up," Janel said. "He is my brother…" Joe proved it by thumping her in the forehead.

"But you remembered to call me Edit in front of my mom," she went on.

Joe finished his food. "Uh, I've got to go." He pointed to his mask. "Got a treatment this afternoon."

"Coward," Janel groused through clenched teeth.

"See you later, _sis_ ," he said with a peck to Janel's cheek.

Eddie looked at her expectantly.

"Open mouth insert foot," she muttered.

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	8. Chapter 8

Eddie stared at the photo of Joe on the shelf of family photos at Frank's home. When Jamie noticed, he came behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"So that's Joe?" she asked.

"Yeah," Jamie replied. "That's Joe."

"He was killed by the Blue Templar?"

"Yeah," Jamie said. "Why the sudden curiosity about my brother?"

"I just never got to meet him," she said.

"You never met my mom, either," Jamie said as he turned her around to look her in the eye. "And you never ask about her."

"I have," Eddie said. "Haven't I?"

"I think I've told you about her," Jamie said. "But I don't think you've asked about her."

"Dinner's ready," Janel said as she stuck her head in.

Jamie took Eddie's hand and started forward. "Just a minute," she said. "When is the family going to do a code blue on her?"

"I don't know," Jamie said. "When she gets too sweet and sugary?"

"Are you saying I was sweet and sugary?"

"No," Jamie said as she dragged him the direction of the dining room. "Not at all."

"I think you just put your foot in it, Mr. Reagan," Eddie said.

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Passing around the food and discussing the week's events was par for the course at the Reagan family dinner table. Even the occasional argument started by said discussion was accepted at dinner, sometimes punctuated by one of the parties leaving the table. The one thing never liked but accepted with the detectives in the family, was a phone call during dinner. Today, Janel's phone rang.

She glanced at it and the number puzzled her. CA Dept of corrections. "Uh," she began as she got up. "I think I'd better get this one."

She ran her hand along Frank's shoulders as she went by, retreating to the den. "Hello," she answered the call.

"Agent Mayer?"

"Yes?"

"Your presence has been requested by one of the inmates," the caller said. "I am the warden of the California state prison.

"Who wants to see me?"

"Gabriel Geraldo," was her answer. "He had a massive stroke last night and it doesn't look good."

"Why does he want to see me?"

"I do not know," the other replied. "But he was rather insistent. The FBI has a plane ready to fly you out this evening."

She rubbed her forehead. "If you think it's that urgent," she said. "I'll be there right away." She hung up a knot forming in her belly. After a few seconds, she dialed the number she had been given for the California department of corrections. When someone answered, she asked to speak to Gabriel Geraldo.

"I'm sorry," the person answered. "He was taken to the hospital a few hours ago after he had a stroke."

"Was he able to speak?"

"At the time," the person said. "Yes. I do not know his current condition but could only give it to his emergency contact."

"Who would that be?"

"He has down an Agent Janel Mayer," he said.

"That would be me," she said. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

After she hung up, the knots tightened. On the verge of tears, she called out to Frank. "Frank would you come here for a minute?"

Back at the table, Frank swallowed the bite he was chewing and wiped his face. The faces around the table were suddenly filled with worry. He joined Janel in the study. "What's going on?"

"Geraldo had a stroke," she said. "I've got to fly out because he wants to talk to me."

"About what?"

"I don't know," she replied. "But I need to hurry. It doesn't look good."

"Do you think has something to do with the price they had on the family?"

"I hope not," she replied. "But I have to go. Watch your back." She nodded to the dining room. "Tell them to keep an eye out, too."

"I will," Frank said. "We'll increase security around all of them."

"Good," she said then kissed him. "I'll see you when I get back."

Frank nodded as she grabbed her coat and purse and left through the front door while Frank moved to watch her through the window. Before she got in her car, she looked up at the house like she would never see it again. He pulled his phone out and made a phone call to Baker before he headed back to the table.

"What was that all about?" Danny asked.

"Gabriel Geraldo had a stroke," Frank said.

"What does that have to do with Janel?" Henry asked. "And why do you look so worried?"

"Geraldo had a hit on our family," Frank said. Gasps came from all around the table. "When she and her partner saved him from the fires in California, he removed it but we're concerned it might be reversed if he dies." He looked at everyone around the table. "I called Baker and she's arranging for increased security around all of us."

"Jack, too?" Sean asked.

Frank nodded. "He told me this is finals week, so we'll be working with the college and the police there to keep him safe until you and your dad go get him."

"Where'd she go?" Eddie asked. "And did anyone call her partner?"

The way Eddie spoke, Frank got the feeling she knew his secret. "I'm sure someone alerted the partner, yes," Frank said. "It seems Geraldo requested her presence."

"He…" Daniel began, confused. "He requested her by name?"

"Yes," Frank answered. "I don't know what he wants, but she's going."

"How can she be sure it's not a trap?" Jamie asked.

"I was just going to ask that," Danny said.

"She doesn't," Frank told him. "But she's going for us. To protect us."

"We can't just let her go," Henry said.

"You have to," a familiar voice came from the kitchen and everyone turned to see who it was.

Frank could feel the wave of shock pass over the table as Joe stood in the kitchen doorway behind Henry. He'd discarded the bandages and although his right cheek was badly scarred, they could tell he was the same Joe they remembered, just older.

"What the hell?" Danny said.

Nikki looked like she wanted to scream or faint while her mother stood up with her fists balled like she wanted to punch him. The rest of the family just stared in shock.

"I'll be with her," Joe said. "You guys work on keeping this family safe."

"Joe what in the hell are you doing here?" Frank asked.

"I knew that someone had to shock some sense into this family," he said. "Because if I know them, Danny and Jamie would be on the first plane out to be there for her." He nodded to Eddie. "Probably Eddie, too."

Jamie turned to her. "You knew?!"

"I just found out yesterday," Eddie said. "And they swore me to secrecy."

Joe smiled. "You did good little brother," he said. "But I'm going and I will be backing Janel up."

"Who's going to back you up?" Danny asked.

"We'll have back-up," Joe replied.

"That you can trust like Jamie and me?"

"No," Joe replied. "But you need to be here to watch the family." He paused. "I'm dead, remember?"

"Joe," Frank started.

"Yeah, Dad?"

"Be careful," he said. "And bring yourself home."

Joe smiled. "I'm looking forward to Christmas," he said. "Sorry about the lateness of my RSVP."

Then, he was gone.

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Isabelle Delgado kissed her sons and left them in the spacious house with the nanny. She took a deep breath and got in her car. They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but Isabelle was angry and determined. Determined to kill the woman that had killed her precious Louis. Then, she wanted to retaliate against the Reagan family. If it was the last thing she ever did.

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	9. Chapter 9

The flight to California had been uneventful and Janel now sat in the waiting room of Los Angeles General Hospital waiting for the doctor to OK her visit. When the word finally came through, she was escorted past security and into his room.

Geraldo lay in the hospital bed, hooked up to machines that kept track of his body function. "I'm here," she said. "What do you want?"

His eyes focused on her as she leaned over him. "Bargain kept," he said, his words slurring. "Still don't wah die. Na my choiss. No…" he breathed. "No conrak." He breathed again. "Warn…"

"Warn who?" Janel asked and he pointed at her with his good left hand. "Warn me? Of what?"

"Yesh," he slurred. "Daygado after reeven."

"Delgado's after me?" she said. "He's dead."

"Vife," he slurred. "Isa…" he stopped.

"Vife? Vife is a what?"

"Isabell…" Geraldo said then stiffened and blew out another breath, taking no more. The alarms went off on the machines and the crew assigned to him came rushing in.

Janel found herself crushed into the corner as they worked on Geraldo but several minutes later, they called it. Gabriel Geraldo was dead.

They covered the body and began taking the carts and other equipment from the room. The doctor stopped to talk to her. "I hope you got what he needed to tell you," he said. "I'm pretty sure it was the only reason he was hanging on."

"Do you know why he had the stroke?" She asked. "He was deemed healthy only a few weeks ago when he survived the fire."

"They'll be an autopsy," the doctor said. "Did you get what he wanted?"

Janel took a breath. "I sure hope so," she replied. "Thank you doctor."

"You're welcome," the doctor said and left the room.

Janel stood for a minute, looking at the sheet covered form. "The last thing you did," she said to the inert form. "Was the right thing." She took a couple of steps to the bedside. "If you'd lived your entire life the way you lived those last few minutes… you might have been a good man." She turned to the door. "What a waste." She walked from the room.

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"Not a chance," Joe said.

"We're going," Danny said. He was backed up by both Jamie and Eddie.

"This is an FBI matter," Joe said.

"No," Jamie said. "This is a Reagan family matter. If you don't want to take us on the FBI plane with you, that's fine. We'll fly commercial."

"I should have known I'd find you sticking your fingers in an FBI case," a new player to the party put in.

They turned to find Agent Vaughn Morgan standing behind them. "The Commissioner pulled some strings and got them temporarily assigned to this case." He held up a file before handing it to Joe. "Their credentials and ID."

Joe opened the file. Sure enough, there was a letter faxed from his direct superior in DC and three clip-on ID tags with the pictures of the three NYPD cops on them.

"Done protesting?" Danny said with a smile.

"You knew this was on its way, didn't you?" Joe asked.

"Seems to me you need back-up," Eddie said. "And the kind you can trust without question." She paused to look between Joe's brothers. "You do trust us? Don't you?"

Joe looked to each of them. "Yes," he said finally. "Get on."

"Good luck," Morgan said with a jaunty salute to Joe. "You're gonna need it."

Joe gave him a dirty look and climbed into the plane and pulled the door closed. He headed past his brothers and Eddie to the cockpit.

"Ah, aren't we missing something?" Danny asked.

"Like what?" Joe responded.

"Like a pilot," Jamie said.

"You're lookin' at him," Joe told them.

"You're a pilot?" Danny said in disbelief. "Since when?"

"About seven years ago," Joe replied. "I have been flying all over the place and have over ten thousand hours in the air and only one accident… and that was not my fault."

"That makes me feel _SO_ much better," Danny said sarcastically.

"Jamie," Joe said. "Why don't you come sit up front with me?"

"What and leave Eddie with him?" Jamie replied.

Joe looked back at them. "He'll be all right," he said. "She'll kick his ass if he gets out of line."

Danny gave him a dirty look and sat in one of the seats in the back of the small jet and buckled up as Eddie did the same across the aisle.

Jamie sat down next to Joe and watched as his older brother did the preflight check, then taxied out to the runway. Within minutes, they were in the air. At that, Jamie initiated small talk.

"How long you been partners with Janel?" he asked.

"Since she saved my life," Joe answered. "How long you known Eddie?"

"Five years," Jamie replied. "She was my partner for five years."

"And you never…?"

Jamie looked back into the cabin to find that Danny had fallen asleep and Eddie was reading a book. "There were a couple of close calls," Jamie replied. "But no." He looked out the front window. "You?" he asked casually.

"Never even thought about it," he replied. "She's attracted to older men, not younger ones." He looked over at Jamie. "Besides I love her, but it would be like dating Erin."

"Ew," Jamie said. "Just… no."

"That's the way it goes," Joe said.

"You date?"

Joe shook his head. "Not lately," he replied. "I'm just too busy."

"Too bad," Jamie said. "I think you'd be a great dad."

"You will be a great dad sooner than I will," Joe said.

"I delivered a baby a few months ago," Jamie mentioned.

"Oh yeah?"

"Boy," Jamie said. "Eight pounds."

"That's great," Joe said.

"Yeah," Jamie replied. "They named him Eddie."

Joe laughed so hard he woke Danny up.

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By the time they got to California, Janel had gone missing. "No one's seen her since last night," Agent Kyle Arapaho told them. "She had a late supper after coming back from the hospital from what the hotel room service waiter said."

"Dou you know what happened at the hospital?" Danny asked as he glanced around the hotel room.

"All we know is Geraldo died around 3:30 yesterday afternoon," Arapaho replied.

Eddie peeked into the drawers. "Her clothes aren't here," she said. "Maybe she headed back to New York."

Joe pushed past his brothers and opened the closet door. "She never unpacks," he said. "Says it's a waste of time since she's just going to have to pack again at the end of the trip." He pulled out her suitcase and set it on the bed before he began rifling through it.

"What are you looking for?" Jamie asked and joined his brother by the bed.

"Her journal," he replied. "She had this habit of forgetting important details and kept having to re-file reports because she left something out. She got in the habit of writing things down as she went." He finished with the suitcase. "It's not here."

"What's not there?" Danny asked. He had finished a discussion with Agent Arapaho and a security officer for the hotel.

"Janel's journal," Joe replied.

"Does she carry a purse?" Eddie asked.

The three brothers looked at her. "If she's writing things down as she goes," Eddie went on. "It seems logical that she would keep the journal in her purse."

"Good point," Joe agreed. "Where though?"

"There," Danny said as he pointed to a hook by the door where a medium sized leather purse hung. "It's where Linda kept her purse. On a hook by the door."

Joe went over and got in the purse and pulled a small notebook with hard covers from it. He flipped through the pages until he found the last page of writing. He read it aloud. " _Gabriel Geraldo's time of death as recorded by medical personnel was 3:37 p.m. His last words on this Earth were a warning that I don't understand. I did catch that he'd had the contract on the Reagans cancelled but do not understand his final words. Vife after Delgado wants revenge. Or maybe it's supposed to be wife? Wife is a ball? Does that mean she's fun? I'm going to sleep on it. Maybe things will be clearer in the morning…_ "

Danny began to point at the page excitedly. "It's not Delgado is a ball," he said. "It's Isabel Delgado. His wife."

"Damn," Joe commented. "Now we just have to find where."

"Security has video," Danny said then gestured to the door. "What say we go take a look."

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	10. Chapter 10

Music was playing as Janel began to regain consciousness. The singer was singing something about twiddling thumbs, but Janel missed the rest when a glass of ice cold water splashed in her face woke her completely.

She let out a squeal and gasped in surprise. She looked up to see a pretty brown haired Hispanic woman standing over her. When she tried to move, she realized that she was bound hand and foot to a chair. She struggled against the bindings only to have the woman laugh at her.

"Go ahead," she said. "Try to break the bindings."

Janel kept pulling at the bindings until the woman slapped her hard across the face. "I was being sarcastic you bitch," she said.

Janel leaned back in the chair. "Who are you?" she asked. "And where am I?"

She laughed. "You can't even comprehend what's going on, can you?"

"I'm tied up in a big empty warehouse," Janel said. "And I'm guessing you want revenge for your… what, husband, brother?"

"Husband," she replied.

"Whom I killed," Janel went on. "If a man were holding a gun to your head, would you not defend yourself?"

"My Louis did not deserve to die," she said.

"He killed a poor defenseless pregnant woman," Janel insisted. "He deserved to die slowly and painfully." She paused when the woman grabbed her hair and pulled her head back as far as she could pull it. "Let me guess. Your name is Isabel."

"I should cut your head off and feed it to the fish," she spat.

"Yeah," Janel went calmly on. "Except you're pissed. The madder you get, the more likely you'll screw up." She paused to snort. "Somehow I bet you've already screwed up."

"I do not make mistakes," Isabel said as she released Janel's head.

Janel laughed. "Tell another before that one gets old."

Isabel slapped her again. "Is that all you can do?" Janel said. "Slap me around and spit venom? Next you going to tell me, 'My name is Isabel Delgado. You killed my husband. Prepare to die'?"

This time Isabel doubled up her fist and punched Janel as hard as she could. "Better?" she asked as Janel blinked and spat blood.

Janel smiled, the blood on her mouth giving her a sinister look. "Much," she replied.

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Joe, Danny, Jamie and Eddie watched the video that the security department had found. It showed Isabel Delgado pushing a large hamper through the halls of the hotel then into Janel's room. Minutes later, she reappeared and pushed it to the service elevator where she went down to the service entrance. She loaded her into the trunk of a car before driving off, making a right turn out of the parking lot. By the time the video finished playing, Joe had gotten a call from the FBI's LA office. They had a location.

"I'm not waiting," Danny said, but before he could move forward from their place of cover outside the warehouse, Joe grabbed his arm.

"I'm not saying we should wait," Joe began. "But we need to be careful. We don't know who she has helping or how many. Danny, you and me go to the east," he pointed to the right. "Jamie, you and Eddie go to the west. We'll meet on the north side and come up with a plan." He looked at Danny. "Revenge is a dish best served cold. Let's let cooler heads prevail and we'll get her out."

Danny took a breath and nodded his head. Jamie and Eddie headed through the junk around to the left as Joe and Danny went to the right. The warehouse was a good sized one, but the advantage for them was the piles of junk surrounding it. Hulks of empty shipping containers, abandoned cars and metal beams were scattered about, giving them numerous places to hide.

On the other side of the warehouse, Jamie lifted Eddie onto a bin near an open window next to a door and she looked in. The inside of the building was empty save Janel tied to a chair and Isabel pacing like an angry animal. Her head hung, her hair covering her face, but when she lifted her head, Eddie could see that Janel's face was battered and bruised. Janel spied her friend in the window and nodded to let her know. Eddie gave her a thumbs up and turned to hop off the bin.

"She in there," Eddie said with a low voice. "She's tied to a chair and she's taken a beating, but she's alive." Jamie nodded. "And she saw me."

"Good," Jamie said, his voice low as well. "Let's go let Danny and Joe know."

Around the back, Jamie and Eddie reported what they saw.

"There's a big garage door on the other side with a walk-in door in it," Joe told them.

"I've got an idea," Danny said. "Janel's facing that direction inside, right?" He pointed the direction Jamie and Eddie had just come from. They nodded. "Joe and I'll go in that door. Get her attention. You two go through the back way through the walk-in door." He pointed back the way that he had come with Joe. "But be careful and quiet. There are two guys out there. One was guarding the door. If you can take them out quietly, go for it." He held up his cell phone. "I'll text you when we're inside."

They nodded and started the way Danny directed.

"OK," Joe began. "We just going to open the door and walk in?"

"Yeah," Danny said. "Isabel is probably pretty pissed. She's wanting revenge. Not thinking straight."

"And you're speaking from experience?" Joe asked.

Danny just shrugged. Together, they made their way to the door Jamie and Eddie had found.

Meanwhile, Jamie and Eddie found one of the guards they had been warned about. Jamie circled around and Eddie unbuttoned a couple of buttons on her blouse and waited until she could see him behind the guy. She grabbed a dirty rag and stepped out of her hiding place with the rag behind her back.

Giving her best imitation of a surfer girl as seen on TV, she twirled her hair with her free hand. "Excuse me," she said. "I am sooo lost. Could you point me in the direction of the beach. I got to work on my tan…"

They guy came closer and opened his mouth to speak and Eddie stuffed the rag in it as Jamie grabbed him from behind. He tied the guy's hands behind his back and they dumped him in an old dumpster and shut the lid. Jamie threw his gun in an oil drum full of brackish water.

"One down," Eddie said.

"Yeah," Jamie said. "Now button those back up."

Eddie snickered but did as she was told.

Guy number two was next to the door and would not be as easy to subdue. "I'll lure him away," Eddie said. "You go in the door."

"Good idea except I'm not going in that door," Jamie said. He spied a length of rope on the ground near his feet. "This is what we're going to do…"

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Danny tapped the message into his phone but did not yet hit send. He let his finger hover over the button and pulled his gun out before he nodded to Joe. They walked in the door, guns drawn as Isabel was kicking Janel, now on her back, in the ribs.

Isabel turned but pointed a gun at Janel's head. "You're late," Janel called out.

"Better late than never," Joe commented as Danny hit the button to send the text. He slid the phone in his pocket and held his gun with both hands, pointing it at Isabel's heart.

Isabel snorted. "Danny Reagan," she said. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Hello, Isabel," Danny said. "You realize that none of this would be happening if you'd just cooperated with the police and helped us put your dear hubby in jail?"  
"So you could put a needle in his arm in a few years?"

"Yeah, well," Danny said. "You'd have had a few years…"

"Of my husband in jail," she said. "Some option."

Behind her, the door in the garage door clattered shut. Jamie winced as if it had been on accident. "Get over here," she ordered.

Danny and Joe looked puzzled, but Jamie waved his hand subtly to the side and they picked up on it before Isabel could turn back to them. "All three of you," she said. "Drop your guns, or I will shoot her right now."

Joe, Danny and Jamie dropped their guns.

"Jamie," Danny scolded. "What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't," he replied. "Sorry, Danny, Joe."

"You'd better apologize to Janel," Danny said. "She's the one who is going to suffer the most."

"You've got that right," Isabel said as she kicked their guns out of their reach. She pulled out a shiny new knife that looked a lot like the one Janel used to carry for backup. "You like it? It's just like the one she stabbed my Louis with." She plunged it into Janel's left side and Janel screamed in pain.

Eddie chose that moment to come in through the door. From the corner of her eye, Janel saw her and screamed again. "Please!"

"Why should I give you mercy?" Isabel demanded and pulled the knife from her side. "You did not show my Louis mercy."

"He was holding a gun to her head," Joe said. "What did you expect her to do? Let him shoot her?"

"She did not have to twist the knife," she spat.

"That was for Linda," Janel said.

Isabel snorted. "She deserved what she got," she said.

Joe held Danny back as Eddie approached from behind Isabel.

"Your turn," she said as she tightened the grip on her gun.

"Not today," Eddie said and slugged her across the face when she turned to look.

The knife clattered to the floor as the gun went flying and Jamie dove for it. Joe and Danny pulled Janel up and worked on freeing her. Isabel, meanwhile turned to Eddie, intent on beating the crap out of her.

Isabel swung and Eddie ducked then punched her in the side. She kicked at Eddie's knees, but Eddie only jumped away. Eddie grabbed Isabel's wrist and tried to bend it around behind her back but Isabel swung her other hand and met Eddie's nose. Before Eddie could recover, Isabel grasped her around the neck and began choking her, but when Jamie started their way, she shifted and Eddie elbowed her in the face, knocking her to the floor. Before Isabel could get off the floor and resume the fight, Eddie and Jamie both had guns trained on her.

"You're under arrest," Eddie stated.

"Go ahead," Jamie said, the pride evident in his voice. "Cuff her."

"Remind me not to piss her off," Joe said as Eddie rolled the other woman on her front and cuffed her.

Jamie and Eddie held Isabel as Joe and Danny helped Janel to her feet. In the distance, they could hear the sirens that signaled their backup was almost there, hopefully with an ambulance for Janel. They tried to help her, but she waved them off and stood straight in front of Isabel, her hand pressed to the wound at her side. Her face was bruised and her left eye was swollen shut, but she stood as tall as she could.

"You like your revenge?"

Isabel looked at her "You're not dead," she spat. "So no."

"I'm going to tell you some of the last words I said before your husband," Janel said.

"Die bastard?" Isabel growled.

"No," Janel said and stood toe to toe with her. "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." She stopped to draw a pained breath. "You come after me, they come after you. It never ends." She wavered on her feet and Joe grabbed her arm to steady her. She took a breath then waved him off. "Well, it stops here. We're arresting you and you're going to go to jail… probably for the rest of your life." She looked at her friends around her and smiled. "But I guess I have the best revenge. Friends who'll go to the ends of the Earth for me."

At that moment, her strength ran out and Joe caught her as she fell. He wrapped his arms around her as the local police came in the door and took custody of Isabel. Joe held his hand and applied pressure to her knife wound as the paramedics were called in.

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	11. Chapter 11

"Are you sure they'll be here?" Henry asked from his end of the table. There were five empty seats, and they sat waiting for their missing loved ones to join them.

"They said they would be here," Frank replied as he drummed his fingers on the table. "Janel got out of the hospital yesterday and they're flying in today."

"All of them?" Erin asked.

"All of them," Frank confirmed.

As if on cue, they front door slammed and they could hear them come into the house, stomping snow and removing jackets. Those at the table got up to greet them, hugging their missing family. Then Frank noticed that Janel was missing.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"Oh, she insisted that Sunday dinner is family time," Jamie said. "So she didn't come."

"Sorry, dad," Danny said and slapped him on the shoulder.

Eddie took his arm and led him to the dining room. "I wouldn't worry," she said. "She needs some rest anyway."

"I need food more though," she said from the chair next to Frank's as they appeared in the doorway. "What's for dinner?"

His three children and one to-be in-law laughed. "Just kidding," they said simultaneously.

Frank went over and leaned down to kiss her before sitting down. "That was not funny," he said.

"Oh come on, it was a little funny," Eddie said.

It was then that Frank noticed the healing bruise on Eddie's face around her eye and down her cheek. "Eddie?!" he said. "What happened to you?"

"Oh yeah," Danny said as the family began passing the plates of food. "Eddie kicks ass!"

"She does?" Frank asked, looking back at her.

"Yeah," Jamie said as he squeezed her. "Cracked a rib."

"You OK?" Frank asked with concern.

"Not me," Eddie said. "Isabel Delgado."

"Well," Frank said. "I stand corrected."

"Remind me never to piss her off," Henry commented to laughter from the family. "Not that our plates are filled. Let's not forget the prayer." He looked around the table then zeroed in on Joe. "Joe, why don't you do it this week?"

"Sure, Pops," he said and slapped his grandfather on the shoulder. He recited the words that he had almost forgotten but remembered reciting from childhood, then added thanks to have returned to his family and for keeping his friend and partner safe. When he finished, they said amen and crossed themselves.


End file.
